by A. Evermore
Issa chewed her lip. ‘We have to fight, we have to try. We have to mean something, why else would Zanufey speak to me? Why else would Feygriene speak to and guide the last Dragon Lord alive? It cannot be for nothing, and I don’t believe in coincidences.’
‘There’s much to be done, but first things first,’ Coronos said. ‘We must get to Carvon and speak to King Navarr. We can do no more and no less. An army must be formed on the western coast, but only the king has the power to command soldiers in his land. At least the mayor was right about something.’
Issa nodded. She felt frustrated and impotent. If the Maphraxies attacked now they would not be able to stop it.
Chapter 10
Freydel Returns
‘CAN one sleep in the astral planes?’ Freydel’s own voice echoed around him. He was meditative, almost in a trance.
‘I guess one must if one has a physical body,’ he mused. His answer to his own question seemed to come from further away, as if he were two people talking amongst themselves. When he was trying to work out something complex he would often talk to himself this way, questioning his higher self for answers. It worked so effectively here beyond the physical world that he began to feel that he was indeed two people.
‘But to separate mind from body, must the mind go higher than the astral planes to sleep?’
‘Higher than the astral planes are the ethereal planes. Maybe that is where the mind must go whilst the body sleeps,’ he replied to himself.
‘Am I asleep?’
‘Yes,’ his own voice replied, but from further away.
‘Ah, then it is not so dangerous,’ he breathed and relaxed, feeling himself drift.
‘The body cannot survive, especially not without the mind,’ he spoke to himself aloud, the sound of his own voice brought him back again. ‘It will soon disperse into pure energy and become part of the astral planes.’
He came awake fully then as his voice of reason faded. He blinked in the growing light that finally gave him a visual reference. He was walking, or more like floating weightlessly, across a vast sea of pinkish-white clouds of energy. All around moved nothing but pure energy just like when he stepped into the Flow, only this was far stronger and far purer. To his consciousness everything was dreamlike and surreal.
‘Have I died? Maybe I’m still dreaming. Or am I moving in the ethereal planes?’
He went to reach into his pocket, but only when he looked down did his physical body materialise, as if thinking he had a physical body made his body appear.
‘Thought precedes creation,’ he murmured. He hoped to the Great Goddess that he would remember all this when he got home. When I get home… I’m trapped here. My body is probably already dead. The thought made him sad, briefly. The peace and infinite knowing of this place flowed through him and everything else was insignificant, even his physical body. Here he was unfettered by the chains of his cumbersome mortal self. If I die here it would be a welcome thing.
He pulled out the orb. It was still black but much less solid. The energy around him responded and began to pool around the orb in swirls. He watched entranced. Was the energy of the orb communicating to the energy of the ethereal planes? He felt tired and laid himself down upon the flowing energy, still watching the orb. ‘I shall stay here, where it is calm and peaceful.’
A voice came from far away, a rich female voice that he could not quite make out.
‘Leave me, I’m tired,’ Freydel breathed, and felt himself drifting.
‘Freydel.’ The voice was right beside him. He sat up and stared up at the woman that had appeared before him. She was a little like the beings he’d seen in the pyramids, only her skin was pale pink and she had hair. She was not as tall as the other beings, but still she moved with grace.
‘You are an Ancient,’ Freydel whispered in wonder. ‘The orb has shown me the Ancients of long ago.’ He held it up to her but she moved away from it. He did not quite believe she was real. All of this could be just one long strange dream.
‘How can it be? How can you be here? How can the orb be here physically?’ Her eyes were wide, making them seem even larger than normal.
‘I am here physically. I am dying,’ Freydel said, but he wasn’t sad and instead he smiled. ‘Baelthrom trapped me in the astral planes and I cannot return. The orb is protecting itself, it has a will of its own.’ He spoke openly, still only half believing the woman before him was real.
‘Hush, never say that name here,’ the woman looked about herself and shifted. ‘He must never discover the planes beyond the astral.’
‘Ah,’ Freydel breathed as understanding dawned upon him. He was beyond the astral planes. It was the pure energy of the place combined with the power and memory of the orb that helped him to make sense of everything he had seen and experienced. ‘I have seen him, Bael…’
‘Shhh,’ the woman warned again.
‘I saw him in another time, another place, long ago,’ Freydel continued, feeling himself lucid and dreamlike, and yet understanding many things. The woman’s face was a mask of fear and wonder. ‘The orb took me to a place where it could be safe, before the creation of Bael… Before he fell.’ A different thought occurred to Freydel. ‘How do you know my name?’
‘I too am trapped here,’ she said. ‘But I’m cursed by him. A powerful curse that I can’t break because I cannot set foot upon the physical world for long. I am Yisufalni.’
Freydel frowned - he knew the name, it was important, but he could not bring it to mind. ‘I think my body has already died, Yisufalni.’ Her face wavered before him, and he felt himself drifting away again.
‘Freydel.’ The word brought him back. ‘You have not died, you could not be here if you had. There’s still time. Return to the physical world, return now.’
He laughed. ‘But I don’t know how, and perhaps it is better if I stay here. You know he was not called Bael… He was called Ayeth.’
He learned then the power of calling aloud a name, and like waking from a dream into another dream he felt himself falling fast and darkness engulfed him.
‘I know you are there, hiding in the shadows. Show yourself to me,’ a man’s voice demanded.
Freydel did not understand the language, but he understood the words that formed in his aching mind, and that voice he’d heard before.
‘Where are you? Do you really think I - or any of us - cannot see you? Why are you here?’
Freydel blinked in the dimly lit place, feeling so utterly lost and confused as to where he was and what was going on that he began to think his soul was trapped. He was a ghost forever trapped in a time and place he did not belong. He found himself in a blue crystal cavern, deep cobalt crystals covered the walls and ceiling of what seemed to be some sort of natural cave. The crystals glowed and gave off a soft light. There was one crystal unlike the rest and set apart from them. It was twelve feet tall and as thick as an ancient tree trunk. This crystal was translucent white and it did not glow.
‘There you are,’ said the being standing beside the crystal.
Freydel recognised Ayeth. His blue stone amulet shone like the crystals and his eyes were dark as they watched him. Another figure stood beside him. Delicate and slender, smaller than Ayeth, and stunningly beautiful. Her face was smooth and silver, and her lips were soft pearlescent. When Freydel saw her eyes he caught his breath and shivered. They were all black and made her look soulless.
They were both staring right at him, and he backed away. The Flow moved in great swathes around the beings, and his own magical powers felt minuscule compared to the magic they could command. The woman smiled, but the smile did not reach her eyes. Freydel distinctly felt immense sorrow and anger flow from her. Feelings are energy, energy is felt stronger in the astral planes, his reasoning voice reminded him.
‘You do not speak our tongue. Where are you from and how are you here?’ Ayeth demanded.
Freydel felt his heart pounding, making his head ache even more. He was positively feeling
ill now, his body could take no more. He couldn’t deny any longer that they could see him and so he spoke, wondering how they would hear him.
‘I’m trapped here, I’m trying to return,’ he said and swallowed.
‘A ghost, trapped. That is a punishment we have on our world,’ the woman said. Her voice was smooth and high pitched. Freydel didn’t understand what she meant, but she made him very nervous.
‘Not a punishment. I was fleeing danger. Now my time is short.’ Could they help him with their power and technology? Hope sparked within him.
‘Where are you from?’ Ayeth asked, coming a step closer. His alien form and the power that emanated from him were incredibly intimidating. Freydel felt weak and ignorant - the feelings were so strong he wondered if Ayeth and the female were somehow making him feel them.
‘From far away. A place we call Maioria, but it is in the future and in a different galaxy. How far I do not know.’ He didn’t think about what he said, he only knew he had to speak the truth to this man and could not have spoken otherwise.
‘So you do not lie. You come from the future…’ Ayeth said, coming closer until he was only a few feet away. Freydel stared up into those dark blue eyes - eyes that glittered hungrily. The woman behind him came closer, equally intrigued. Freydel felt like a mouse cornered by cats.
Ayeth paused and his eyes widened. ‘I sense something. You have something of power on or within you. What is it? Show it to me.’
Freydel trembled. He felt sick and about to pass out, but he could not deny that commanding voice. He unwillingly reached into his pocket and drew out the orb. ‘It seeks its own protection. It brought me here through its own will.’
‘A crystal orb of power from the future…’ Ayeth said, his eyes wide with wonder. ‘We may have been denied access to the crystal pyramids, but this thing from the future could be what saves us.’
‘It can lead us to the future by its very energy. The One Source has brought it to us so we may be healed,’ the woman exclaimed and bent closer.
Ayeth stared into it to. ‘Something from the future… Can it have power over the past? With it I can break into the crystal pyramids. I know how to and I have the power such a thing might require. Let me feel its power.’ His long six-fingered hand reached towards the orb.
Freydel felt his hand unwillingly lift the orb towards him. ‘It is not yours to take,’ Freydel gasped, trying and failing to resist. The orb pulsed. He could feel anger flow from it. The power of Ayeth forced his hand forward whilst the power of the orb drew him back. He couldn’t breathe. He struggled to pull the orb back and at the same time maintain his grip on reality. The orb pulsed again, its energy juddering through his sick and weak body. His body was collapsing, taking his mind with it. The orb pulsed furiously. There came a jolting release.
‘Freydel,’ a voice called to him. He knew that voice, a friendly voice. He drifted towards it. ‘Freydel, come to me,’ the voice said, closer. He moved towards it, but it was hard, like trying to swim in quick sand.
‘I’m tired,’ he heard himself say.
‘I know, but it’s not far.’ The woman’s voice drifted around him. ‘Just a little farther.’ He struggled on. The darkness was brightening moment by moment, but nothing was revealed in the growing light. There was only the light and the voice in the distance. He fought forwards.
There came a rushing sound and then he was falling at an alarming speed. He flailed in the air and cried out. Wind rushed around him but there was nothing to see but light. A face appeared in front of him, the face of an Ancient. Yisufalni’s face.
‘Follow me,’ she said and smiled, but there was worry and pain in her eyes, and she moved with a certain weakness. She reached down, a cool hand grasped his. Then he fell forwards a long way and landed on something horribly hard.
Freydel opened his eyes and felt weaker than he had ever felt before. He tried to lift his arm and failed. All he could do was lie there breathing. It took a long time for his breath to slow. He opened his eyes and looked around. Surrounding him were the familiar stone chairs of the Wizards’ Circle. The stones were purple in the dusky light of evening.
‘I’m… alive?’ he blinked in disbelief.
Below and to the west of the Wizards’ Tower, the glittering waters of a river ran to meet the sea beyond the hills. The sky was dotted with clouds that were red in the setting sun, and the river was painted orange to create an exquisite sunset. Grassland and then forest extended either side of the river and continued for miles. It had been a long time since he’d last stood, or lain, in the Wizards’ Circle, and he’d forgotten how beautiful this secret place was so far east beyond the Known World.
The orb. He frantically searched for it, felt its cool surface in his pocket and relaxed. His staff, sadly, was still gone, probably for good. That realisation did not sit easily with him. Baelthrom had something of his, it created a link between them, a link he did not want. But he was alive and he had the orb, that was all he cared about.
‘Oh great mother goddess…’ he wheezed and lay back, letting the tears of relief fall down his face. ‘I thought I was dead.’ I was dead, or dying. He’d nearly lost the orb and his life, but thank the goddess he had not. He breathed in the rich air of Maioria. It was heavy and sluggish, just like his body felt, and for a moment he missed the lightness of the astral planes. But I never want to go back.
He winced and turned over onto his side, his aching body protested at the slightest movement. There, not two feet away, was a small curled up child dressed in a grubby white dress. She had her back to him and was not moving. He blinked in surprise and struggled to remember what had happened. He inched himself up onto his elbow and reached out to squeeze the girl’s shoulder. She groaned and moved under his touch, then turned to look at him. Her large pale eyes blinked back at him and her white skin seemed to glow in the dim light.
‘Arla,’ Freydel gasped. ‘How did you get here?’
Her eyes were wide and fearful. She spoke in stutters. ‘If I hadn’t reached you and led you back here, you would have died. That was him wasn’t it?’
Freydel stared at the child. He knew she had strange powers, but being so young he had never really thought much on it. He nodded slightly as he remembered Ayeth.
‘You saw him? Yes, I think so. Baelthrom before he fell. I’m certain the orb took me there to show me, maybe to somehow protect it from the Baelthrom we know now.’ Freydel frowned. He would need to write down everything he’d witnessed and ponder on it deeply.
‘He’s very powerful,’ Arla said. ‘He followed us almost all the way, but in the end he had to turn back. It was so close. I’m afraid that he’s seen me,’ Arla trailed off, her grown up words strange in a child’s voice.
‘You brought me here? How? I saw a woman, like an Ancient. She - we - were beyond the astral planes,’ he shook his head trying to clear the fog.
‘I’ve seen the ethereal planes, but to return to the body and remember what you saw is very hard,’ Arla said wisely, pushing herself to sit up.
Freydel stared at the child, trying to piece it together. ‘Arla how did you reach me? How did you bring me here? How did you escape Celene when Cirosa was taken?’ He wished he’d spent a lot more time with this strange child and her peculiar powers.
The girl looked at him and stammered. ‘I can go places, like when you dream. I knew you were in trouble. I was hiding near the temple when they came. I asked for help and… She came and I followed.’
Arla shrugged as if it were a normal thing. There was more to this story, Freydel was certain, but either the girl was hiding something or she couldn’t articulate what she wanted to say. She would not be the only one to talk to beings and ghosts beyond the physical world, many people had that gift.
‘You can trust me Arla, if there’s something I should know then you need to tell me.’
Arla nodded. ‘I couldn’t stay by the temple, they would have found me and…’ tears filled her eyes.
�
�It’s all right,’ Freydel sighed. He pulled her into his arms as she cried, and rocked her gently. ‘We’re safe now. Was this woman you asked for help an Ancient? Is her name Yisufalni?’ Arla nodded.
Freydel stared off into the distant green hills. The girl speaks to the Ancients. They may be ghosts but they have not left us completely, and with their great powers they are able to help even now. The thought warmed his weary heart and he smiled, tears filling his eyes. There is hope, always.
Arla stopped crying, and he held her away from him so he could look at her directly. ‘Arla, where we are now is a very secret and special place, you must never tell anyone about it. Baelthrom must never know where it is. Can you keep it a secret?’ Arla nodded again. ‘How you got here I do not understand, but only a true wizard can come here, and only then by invitation from a member of the Wizards’ Circle. No woman has been here since the orbs split the powers of the world. Since…’ Freydel frowned, there was something he should remember.
‘Our records speak of a priestess, a high priestess of the original holy order of the Great Goddess. She was also a princess and an Ancient,’ he blinked in surprise. ‘It could be her. I cannot be sure… I need to look at the records. But anyway, she was the last. No woman has been powerful enough to pass the Wizard’s Reckoning since the orbs were divided.’
Arla yawned and shivered.
‘Come, let’s go and get water from the river. We might find some blackberries as well, and a better place to sleep,’ Freydel said, feeling utterly spent.
Chapter 11
Raven Messenger
EHKA circled high above the three riders, then swooped low and landed on the pommel of Issa’s saddle, making her jump.
‘Where have you been?’ she asked and stroked his feathers. She had not seen the bird since they’d entered Corsolon. The pressure in her head came on swiftly, drowning out the voices of Coronos and Asaph talking in front her. She closed her eyes and allowed Ehka’s message in.
